Meaningful Change. Lasting Impact.

The Global Institute for Leadership Development® (GILD) is a proven, immersion-learning leadership development program known for accelerating the development of existing and future leaders. This five-day, competency and skill-based experience inspires leaders to new levels of effectiveness through practical solutions that enable them to transform their teams, their organizations, and their communities.

Who Attends

The Global Institute for Leadership Development offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn, share, network and collaborate with hundreds of other leaders from around the globe. With nearly 50% of participants working at a vice-president level or above, GILD attendees range from high-potential emerging leaders to seasoned C-suite executives. They include:

Individuals identified as successor candidates or high-potentials with less than 10 years of management experience

Intact leadership teams (the direct reports to the Senior Leaders described above) who customize their GILD experience to achieve a unique off-site team experience that blends leadership development and team building

Read GILD alumni perspectives on the program, collected from a Spring 2016 participant survey. For a copy of the full survey, please contact us at learnmore@linkageinc.com

The Experience

Assess

Phase 1: Your Leadership Assessment

GILD is a great experience on its own—but it’s even better when it’s tailored just for you.

Before you join us in Palm Springs, you’ll complete the Leadership Assessment Instrument™ (LAI), a comprehensive 360º assessment designed around our High Impact Leadership Model™, which serves as the foundation for all we do at GILD. This assessment provides feedback from not only you, but also your peers, manager, and direct reports.

Based on your assessment, we’ll develop your Leadership Assessment Profile™, a custom report we will share with you upon your arrival at GILD. Your profile will include a detailed summary of your leadership competencies and skills, including strengths and areas for improvement. Your profile informs your development road map. Learn more about your personal GILD road map.

To see Phase 2, click the arrow to the right.

Coach

Phase 2: Your Leadership Coach

In more than 25 years of executive and leadership development and coaching, we’ve worked with thousands of individuals, leaders, and leadership teams. At GILD, we leverage this breadth of experience to provide one-on-one coaching for all of our program participants.

Based on your LAI assessment results, an expert coach will work with you one-on-one to explore your leadership strengths and opportunities, and to build an action plan to turn potential into advancement and results.

You’ll meet with your personal coach for two one-hour, in-person coaching sessions while you attend GILD. Four to six weeks after the Institute, you will virtually connect for your third leadership coaching session—this follow-up session is critical to your on-going development and to discern your progress. Learn more about the executive coaches at GILD.

To see Phase 3, click the arrow to the right.

Learn

Phase 3: Learn Leadership Lessons from Experts

At the heart of GILD is our core learning curriculum, filled with world-class instruction, led by more than 50 leadership experts from around the globe.

To provide diversity and unique perspective at every turn, our faculty includes a blend of current and past CEOs, world leaders, best-selling authors, humanitarians, renowned educators, and expert coaches and facilitators. Enjoy a 4:1 participant to faculty ratio that allows for in-depth learning opportunities in a variety of formats, including competency-based sessions, peer learning groups, informal networking, lectures, and one-on-one coaching. Learn more about GILD's award winning faculty.

To see Phase 4, click the arrow to the right.

Connect

Phase 4: Small groups – Big conversations

Part of what makes GILD so unique is the opportunity to connect with other leaders from around the world. Beyond the networking sessions and people you’ll meet, you will join a facilitator-led learning team with 15-18 other leaders. You will meet every day for a daily “download” and learning exchange. You’ll discuss the day’s faculty line-up and session topics, share personal experiences, and discuss how these lessons relate to yourchallenges and opportunities. These small groups are what GILD is all about—leaders building leaders.

How do you get assigned to your learning team? We consider your experience, scope of responsibility, and preferred learning style. If your organization would like your team of leaders to stay together in a learning team, please let us know and we would be happy to work together to customize an agenda for your team. Learn how you will grow your leadership network at GILD.

To see Phase 5, click the arrow to the right.

Apply

Phase 5: Continue Your Development beyond GILD

GILD is a five-day program filled with sessions, coaching, and unique learning opportunities—but it’s only five days. The real work begins when you resume your daily role within your organization.

GILD is hands-on to help you succeed when you return to “real life.” Make use of your 360° results and leverage the tools and new approaches you’ve learned. Stay in touch with contacts you’ve met at the Institute. Plus, there is your follow-up coaching session and access to Linkage's Year of Learning™. You’ll continue to learn so that when you return to the office, you’ll have a whole new perspective and set of experiences and challenges to build on. Watch an overview of Linkage's Year of Learning.

If your organization is interested in a customized leadership development solution that integrates GILD with additional leadership development experiences, contact us about Linkage's Leadership Excellence and Acceleration Process™(LEAP).

Hotel Accommodations

Please note that the hotel charges are not included in the Institute registration fee. Institute participants should contact the hotel directly to arrange for accommodations. A limited block of rooms will be available at a special event rate. Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please make your reservation early.

Enrollment Policy

Payment: Full tuition must be received in US funds. Group reservations will be billed to the primary contact unless otherwise specified.

Cancellation: A $350 administrative fee will be applied to any cancellation at any time. After September 18, 2017, cancellation of any and all registrations—including “no shows”—is subject to the full Institute fee. An organization may substitute one executive for another at any time at no charge.

FAQs

What is a typical day at GILD like?
Every day will likely leave you thinking, “...Wow, that was an intense day of learning and personal reflection on what I need to do to become an even better leader!” Each day, you’ll be challenged to think differently by world-class thought leaders, and in your one-on-one coaching sessions and learning team discussions. You’ll receive feedback, including insight from your coach on how your colleagues perceive you as a leader. You’ll network with other global leaders and share your perspectives during your small-group "Learning Team" sessions.

What’s the difference between GILD and a leadership conference?

There are many things that set GILD apart from typical leadership conferences—here are a few of the key differences:

GILD

Designed around a leadership competency model to ensure you're learning the most relevant content for your advancement

360º assessment for real insight on your own personal leadership strengths and development areas, as noted by yourself and your direct reports, managers, and colleagues

One-on-one leadership development coaching based on your assessment results and dialogue

Facilitated small-group learning sessions ("learning teams," see below) with peers who are benchmarked to ensure common leadership challenges and levels of experience

Ongoing learning and development resources provided by Linkage throughout the year

What is a learning team?

Learning teams are facilitator-led small groups (15-20 participants) that meet for two hours each day. During these sessions, participants discuss how to apply what they are learning from the faculty into their daily work lives to become better leaders. Linkage organizes each learning team so that people with similar years of management experience, similar scope of responsibility, similar learning style, and similar leadership challenges are grouped together—this pre-planning helps participants get the most out of the small groups and allows the development of lasting peer relationships.

Will I be in a learning team with colleagues from my organization?

Some organizations send a “cohort” of high-potential leaders or senior leaders and choose to keep them together through the GILD experience (called an “intact team”), while others elect to have participants experience GILD as individual leaders, dispersed among various learning teams. Both experiences offer valuable benefits. Ultimately, this is a choice you and your organization will make.

How does the 360º leadership assessment work?

Linkage’s Leadership Assessment Instrument™ (LAI) is an 80-item online assessment. To complete the 360º component, you will nominate raters you would like to provide feedback (your manager, your direct reports, your peers, and others you believe would add valuable perspectives). The assessment takes about 20-30 minutes per individual to complete. Once you arrive at GILD, you and your leadership coach will receive your confidential assessment results—no one else receives the results unless you decide to share them. The assessment provides valuable insight and awareness for you to know your leadership strengths and development areas. The LAI is based on the five leadership competencies and six leadership skills that are the foundation of the High Impact Leadership Model™—a universal leadership model co-created by Warren Bennis and Linkage.

How does leadership coaching work at GILD?

Prior to GILD, you will have an opportunity to select your coach from a diverse pool of leadership coaches, based on biographical information shared with you before you arrive. Your selected coach will introduce him- or herself before the Institute to schedule two one-hour, on-site leadership coaching sessions during GILD. In these sessions, your coach will help you to understand your assessment results, and to jointly craft your Individual Development Plan (IDP). Four to six weeks after GILD, you will virtually reconnect with your coach to discuss the implementation of your IDP, to monitor its progress, and to identify and/or modify next steps based on your current status. Additional leadership coaching, beyond the three one-hour sessions, is also an available option.

What will a participant learn from the various faculty members?

Each GILD faculty member addresses one of the 16 components of the High Impact Leadership Model™. Though each session and faculty member varies, each will challenge you to think, behave, and motivate others differently with tools related to their particular area of expertise and competency.

What is the Senior Executive Leadership Forum (SEL)?

The SEL is a four-day, strategic development program embedded within GILD. Participants must be C-suite executives or successor candidates for C-suite within a one-year time horizon. SEL is led by Linkage’s founder and Executive Chairman, Phil Harkins, and addresses leadership dilemmas faced by C-suite executives; many of the GILD faculty join in a small-group discussion with these 15-20 executives.

Is there a dress code at GILD?

The dress code is business casual. We suggest you bring comfortable shoes and dress in layers as each day’s program will move between rooms and the temperatures are likely to vary.

What if I have dietary restrictions?

Please notify us at customerservice@linkageinc.com if you have special dietary needs. Participants should also identify themselves to a member of the wait staff on-site at each meal.